Organization
The Office of the Child’s Representative (OCR) was created by the Colorado General Assembly in 2000 to provide effective representation to vulnerable children involved in the state’s court system. OCR attorneys represent the interests of children in dependency and neglect (child abuse), delinquency, domestic relations, adoption, truancy, probate, mental health, and paternity cases.
Challenge
OCR’s small central administration staff relies on information technology to streamline the fast-paced, multifaceted work required by the agency’s mission. The staff—and, by extension, attorneys throughout the state and the children they represent—cannot afford outages and system failures. Rebecca Garrison, Information Systems Manager, supports OCR’s sophisticated online services, databases and other software.
Yet, Garrison admits she is “as clueless as anyone” on IT tasks outside her areas of expertise. Having limited time and resources with which to maintain all IT systems, OCR needed a reliable IT partner to support them and propose optimal solutions.
“We were looking for an IT company with the competence, reliability and manpower to monitor our systems 24/7,” Garrison recalls. “Sometimes we need to triage, to act based on budget or time. We needed flexibility without cutting corners, and expertise without breaking our budget.”
Solution
Contracting with BNC made life easier at OCR. As Garrison puts it,
“BNC really listened to our problems, assessed what we had and what we needed. BNC has a unique ability to really understand our IT needs, then clearly explain our options so we stay in the driver’s seat on IT decisions.”
To start, BNC assigned two engineers to diagnose OCR’s servers and equipment. BNC then proposed a detailed plan and routine maintenance to keep the infrastructure in optimal condition. Being mindful of the agency’s time and resources, they proposed options for phasing in any new solutions over time.
“BNC always kept the big picture in mind. They knew our timelines, what had to happen first and what could come later. They had a real plan to make things rock solid.”
Results
Garrison says BNC has greatly improved OCR’s IT practices and productivity. “We needed somebody with a good reputation we can trust to deliver on their promises.” And that’s just what OCR found in their partnership with BNC.
Garrison says BNC is reliable, responsive and consistent. She recounts a recent crisis when a critical workstation failed without warning. It was late on a Friday evening with a blizzard on the way, and Garrison was concerned about getting support. But Eric—the off-duty BNC engineer assigned to OCR—went directly to the OCR office. He worked several hours to retrieve data, get a backup workstation running, and locate a new machine to be purchased.
“Eric stayed on call for questions the following Monday. Thanks to BNC’s competence and dedication, the OCR staff member with the crashed machine experienced no downtime,” said Garrison.
“With BNC, if I have an emergency right now, I know exactly who to call. I know they’ll answer and have a solution.”
The most valuable benefit? For OCR, it’s knowing their IT systems are available, 24/7, so their time and energy can be dedicated to achieving the agency’s mission.
